Inner Circle
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day seven hundred and fifty-three: Stranded in the Alternate world, Jesse, Rachel, and Quinn need a new ally.  aka 'The Moon'


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 35th cycle. Now cycle 36!_

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><p><em>Had the idea for this cycle back in July or August where I thought it'd be interesting to do <strong>a set inspired by tarot cards<strong>. My initial research then directed me to the cards of **the Major Arcana**, of which there were 22, so I combined two, which got me to 21, making this a cycle-long set of stories. Then I did more research, to find out about each of those cards, and what they can represent. Now I need to point out that it's a more or less basic approach. I don't go into the reverse meaning or other things, just this part.** ** If you would like the document of info I've collected and based myself on, let me know and I'll send it, since it covers the next three weeks' worth of stories. **** Lastly, in connection to the first card, **'The Fool'**, and the journey through those other cards, this entire cycle will feature, in lead or supporting form, one **Brittany S. Pierce**..._

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><p><strong>"Inner Circle"<br>or 'The Moon'  
>JesseRachel, Quinn, AU!Brittany  
>Berry-St #20 (following 'Pocket Universe')<br>(there was 'Power Couple', 'Not For Nothing', and 'Gatecrash', too, but... yeah ;)) **

They were starting to develop a reputation, the three of them. As covert as they tried to be, inevitably they needed to talk, being stuck in this situation they were in. Jesse and Quinn, they had to pretend to be dating… in love… Rachel had to pretend to be the new girl, that she didn't know all those people she'd spent countless hours with, singing, dancing, and then some… and then there was the fact that she and Jesse had been growing close again lately, that there had been kisses… many kisses. Quinn knew and, though she did feel some proxy discomfort about her fake boyfriend 'going behind her back,' at this point she couldn't make herself stand in their way.

They all wanted to get home… as soon as possible. Jesse had promised Rachel he would get here there, and the first order of business where he was concerned was to get them a new ally. This wasn't received too well by the girls. "Why would you want to bring anyone else into this?" Quinn asked.

"The last time you did that, they ended up getting swapped, too, remember?" Rachel piped in, looking over to Quinn for a split second.

"Like she'd let me forget," he looked, too. "Besides we don't know that it had anything to do with it."

"And we don't know that it didn't, either," Quinn frowned at him.

"Anyway," he pulled the conversation back into focus. "All I'm saying is we've been skating by as it is, and we've all had our near misses. "I just think we'd be better off having someone who could give us the home advantage perspective again. What if that's where the answer is and we don't know it yet?" There was a pause as Rachel and Quinn considered this.

"Suppose that we did," Quinn entertained the thought. "Who would it be?" Jesse went to answer, then realized in all this time he hadn't actually thought about it, and he retreated. "Oh good…" she sighed.

"Well who do you think it should be?" he baited.

"Let's see," she humored him. "Can't ask Finn, because the other us kind of screwed him over. Can't ask Puck, because of the other me."

"What'd you do?" Rachel turned to her.

"Him," she looked to Jesse, then paused. "Not like that…"

"You know you want to," Jesse couldn't help teasing her. Those little jabs at their pretend couple was his only valid source of entertainment. She glared at him, and Rachel had a face like she was protesting, and he realized maybe it wasn't a good idea to do that in front of her. "Sorry," he lowered his eyes.

"Okay, so not them, who else?" Rachel asked.

"Not Santana," Quinn decided. "She'd probably sell us out."

"Tina and Mercedes are kind of… gossip prone," Rachel added. "Artie, too." Jesse was trying to keep up with who they were eliminating, and who was left, but alternate world or not, New Directions was their turf. He didn't know them enough. "Or Kurt…" Rachel went on; they were going too fast for him.

"Well I don't know that Mike or Matt could really help either," Quinn shook her head. Then the talk stopped all at once, as it dawned on the two girls first, and even on Jesse after a few seconds… There was only one member of New Directions left.

"Okay what about Mr. Schue?" Rachel still had to try.

"Look as much as I'd like to give the guy something else to focus on since his marriage imploded, do you really think it's wise?" Jesse shook his head. "What about… Miss Pillsbury?"

"She'd just freak out," Quinn shot the idea down. "I'm not even going to pretend any of us think Coach Sylvester is the person to bring in to this," she quickly eliminated the thought, while the others silently agreed. And now they were back to their last New Directions connection. "Are we sure we want to do this?" she almost cringed. "Look, I like her, she's a friend, but… What if she's… different?"

"She doesn't have anything to do with this whole thing, she's just the same as in our world, from what I've seen over the last month," Jesse pitched in.

"Which doesn't exactly help our situation," Rachel was with Quinn on this.

"Okay, let me put it this way: Who else do we know who can think outside the box like her?" Jesse bowed his head. The way both Rachel and Quinn tilted and nodded their heads at the same time was too random to have ever been planned. "Right…" Jesse blinked. "So we're doing this?" There was a pause, then Quinn sighed and got up.

"Fine. But let's be careful about it, alright? Let me do the talking, at least to start."

They went out in search of their would-be recruit. It was nearly Glee Club time, so they figured the best way to catch her was on her way there. They planted themselves 'covertly' in the hall, Rachel standing on one side, pretending to read a book, while Jesse and Quinn rested side by side against lockers across the way, looking at each other with 'lovebird eyes.'

"What's with the eyebrows… sweetie?" she spoke with a honey sweet voice.

"You're just that hard to romance… babe," he matched it.

"Seriously, that's supposed to turn me on?" There was an abrupt noise from across the hall, and they looked back to find Rachel was signalling for them to look left. "Here she comes…" Thankfully for them, she was alone. Quinn moved up to her. "Hey, Brittany, can we talk?"

"Sure," she shrugged, and Quinn pulled her toward an empty classroom, Jesse and Rachel tagging along. When Brittany saw them, she frowned.

"What's going on?" Quinn invited for her to sit, so Brittany did, and the other three sat across from her. "Is this about last week after gym class?"

"What happened last week after…" Rachel asked.

"Nothing," Brittany abruptly waved it off.

"O-okay," Quinn sighed, pulling up her chair. "Brittany, we need to talk to you about something, and it's going to sound kind of strange, but you have to listen, okay?" Brittany nodded. "And whatever happens, you can't tell anyone." She opened her mouth to speak. "Even Santana," she cut her off, and Brittany's face fell a bit. "We really want to trust you," Quinn tempted, and she could see curiosity lift the Cheerio's features. "It's a big thing," she went on, and now Brittany couldn't not know.

"What is it?" she asked. Quinn looked to Rachel and Jesse, and they both nodded.

"Right, so this thing happened, about a month ago, to these two… and then to me a couple weeks after," she frowned. "Basically, we're not from… here, from this… world," she was finding it harder to explain than she thought she would, especially as Brittany's face shifted.

"Like aliens?" she whispered.

"Not aliens," Rachel insisted.

"That's what they all say," Brittany still looked suspicious.

"Anyway," Quinn carried on. "I guess you can say we're from an alternate reality, and in that world Jesse's with Vocal Adrenaline, and Rachel's the one who's been here with New Directions all along."

"And where are you from?" Brittany wasn't questioning things so far.

"From here, too," Quinn nodded. "I got switched after they did, so I used to help the other guys, the ones that are really from here… Do you understand?"

"Sure," Brittany shrugged, like it was obvious.

"And you believe us?" Jesse asked. Brittany looked at all of them, like she was considering her answer. And then she shrugged again.

"Okay," she seemed to decide. This caught the trio off guard; this had gone a lot easier than they thought it would, which either meant they'd underestimated Brittany, or she wasn't letting on whether she really understood or not. "So no one else knows?" Brittany asked.

"No one," Rachel shook her head.

"I used to know… now I'm part of it," Quinn threw a look to Jesse.

"Basically we need you to help make sure we don't screw things up and say something we shouldn't, because we're not really from here," he took over.

"Why me?" Brittany asked, and they had to think of something besides 'process of elimination.'

"Because… you don't think like most people," Quinn told her, which was basically the true reason. Brittany looked satisfied by this. "So you'll help?"

"Yeah," Brittany nodded, and the others were relieved. "Though you could still be aliens…"

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>******always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******


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